By Benjamin Quigan
Wine in cheese go hand in hand, and in many cases, the two can compliment each other greatly.
Other times, not so much.
With a vast selection of wine and cheese varieties to choose from, getting a good match can seem like a difficult task.
Just like matching wine with food, there are some rules around good cheese pairings.
However, these ‘rules’ should not be treated as gospel and used only as a guide.
My advice? If it tastes good, do it!
In many cases it will come down to personal preference.
When pairing cheese with wine, follow these basic guidelines:
Pungent cheeses are best paired with sweeter wines. Generally, the more pungent the cheese, the sweeter the wine should be.
Soft cheeses and strong flavours go better with white wines.
Hard cheeses and milder flavours go better with red wines.
If you get a cheese and a wine from the same region the two will often work together.
If you are presenting a range of different cheeses, it would pay to have more white wines than reds.
Many of the soft, creamy cheese types leave a layer of fat on the palate which will interfere with the flavours of most red wines, leaving the wine tasting bland and uninteresting.
However, if you like the more intense, stinky cheese then you will need a bold wine to stand up to it - such as a bold Cabernet Sauvignon.
Ports and dessert wines would be best paired with blue veined cheese.
Some common cheese and wine pairings are:
- Champagne/Sparkling – Brie, Camembert
- Chardonnay – Mild Cheddar
- Sauvignon Blanc – Goat cheese
- Cabernet Sauvignon – Blue, sharp Cheddar
- Shiraz – Sharp Cheddar
- Port – Strong blue
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